User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info

Eyes Open
by
Eyes Open Image
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 75 Ratings

  • Summary: Martha Wainwright and Ken Stringfellow are among the guests on Gary Lightbody's fourth Snow Patrol album.

Top Track

Chasing Cars
We'll do it all Everything On our own We don't need Anything Or anyone If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the... See the rest of the song lyrics
See Full Track List »
Powered by

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Stylus Magazine
    83
    Eyes Open is composed of broad, obvious songs with broad, obvious hooks, aimed straight for the hearts of as many people as the band can manage. All of this would be bad, horrible even, if it didn't work. But it does.
  2. Q Magazine
    80
    Snow Patrol are on their way to becoming essential. [May 2006, p.120]
    All this publication's reviews
  3. E! Online
    75
    The band's naked ambition would be offputting if it didn't come wrapped in such resounding choruses.
  4. Mojo
    60
    Eyes Open hardly furthers Snow Patrol's rote one guitar attack, and repetition exposes Lightbody's interpretations of love's little hiccups as a tiring experience. [Jun 2006, p.108]
    All this publication's reviews
  5. musicOMH.com
    60
    Eyes Open takes the formula of the last album and magnifies it.
  6. Blender
    60
    Over 45 minutes, it feels monotonous and preposterously self-pitying, but in controlled doses, it bests all the rest of the U.K.'s current wave of post-Coldplay bedwetters. [Jun 2006, p.145]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Under The Radar
    40
    Snow Patrol got it all wrong with this album. [Summer 2006, p.93]
    All this publication's reviews

See all 25 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 44
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 44
  3. Negative: 2 out of 44
  1. [Anonymous]
    Oct 20, 2009
    10
    This has got to be one of my favorite albums of all time. It's true that the beats might sound similar but its the lyrics that really This has got to be one of my favorite albums of all time. It's true that the beats might sound similar but its the lyrics that really make it stand out. Also Lightbody's voice is truly mesmerizing.… Expand
  2. bruceb
    Apr 13, 2007
    10
    this has to be the BEST and most awesome album ever made (and i don't just mean by snow patrol!) Buy it you wont regret it ever....
  4. Joris
    Feb 25, 2007
    9
    A welcome surprise. If you take out uninspired song like Chasing Cars and You're All I have (which aren't very bad but of which I A welcome surprise. If you take out uninspired song like Chasing Cars and You're All I have (which aren't very bad but of which I really don't get the point of becoming (hit)singles, I always thought it were mere dull cliché filler tracks, but then again thats' me vs the mainstream taste I suppose) you end up with a magnificent collection contaning the following outstanding songs: HEADLIGHTS ON DARK ROADS (great guitar riff), SET THE FIRE TO THE THIRD BAR, HANDS OPEN, OPEN YOUR EYES and the Brian Eno-esque ambient trip THE FINISH LINE. Beautiful.… Expand
  5. DG
    May 9, 2006
    8
    I didn't think I'd like this after hearing about all the 'sell out' bashing - but I think it's fantastic and I I didn't think I'd like this after hearing about all the 'sell out' bashing - but I think it's fantastic and I couldn't disagree more. How could they sell themselves out?! They've already had chart success and all that shit! If anything they created something that is, apart from the first two tracks, wholly unmainstream (if thats a word!). I recommend it.… Expand
  6. BTSchonewald
    Jun 5, 2006
    8
    You know what? After a decade or something pottering about aimlessly in the indie-rock quagmire Snow Patrol finally hit on something gold, You know what? After a decade or something pottering about aimlessly in the indie-rock quagmire Snow Patrol finally hit on something gold, and it showed on 'Final Straw'. It would have been so easy for Lightbody and the other members of the ol' Patrol to just dig out the old tunes from 'Songs For Polar Bears' and 'When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up', maybe up them a flat or something just to make them sound a little different. Not for good old Gary Lightbody, who, after toting a wildly fantastically nerdy white-man's afro at Live8 cmes back to the forefront of British rock music with an album which will surely ensure that Snow Patrol dig into the Premiership of worldwide music. OK, let's not kid ourselves, there are some HORRENDOUSLY dull tracks, ie Open Your Eyes, but there are plenty of tracks infused with genius, from the lullaby-ish Shut Your Eyes, to the riffed-up rock of yore in Hands Open, to what Snow Patrol do best: big, bad, enormous, chest-pounding exploding-chorus songs like You're All I Have. By all means, if you enjoyed Final Straw, buy it; if your bag is more the artificial pop music of 50 Cent and Embrace and Busted etc, then please don't, because, quite frankly, you are not the kind of person we like here in the Premiership.… Collapse
  7. Johnm
    Jul 7, 2006
    6
    I have to agree that this album does not have the heart of Final Straw or Songs for Polar Bears. It's their attempt at the bigtime. I have to agree that this album does not have the heart of Final Straw or Songs for Polar Bears. It's their attempt at the bigtime. Hopefully their next effort will be better. Bear in mind that this band has been around for nearly 10 years. I can't blame them for wanting to pay the bills. I hope they get back to making music like Fifteen Minutes Old.… Expand
  8. Ninja
    May 15, 2006
    1
    This album is pathetically bland. If you're going to resort to lame lyrics at least have memorable riffs/beats.. this has neither.

See all 44 User Reviews

Awards & Rankings

63
#63 Most Discussed Album of 2006

Current Music Releases

Full List »
99 Band on the Run [50th Anniversary Edition] - Paul McCartney & Wings
95 If I don't make it, I love u - Still House Plants
95 The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow - Charles Lloyd
91 COWBOY CARTER - Beyoncé
91 The Carnegie Hall Concert - Alice Coltrane
90 1989 (Taylor's Version) - Taylor Swift
90 Iechyd Da - Bill Ryder-Jones
90 This Could Be Texas - English Teacher
89 I Got Heaven - Mannequin Pussy
89 Black Bayou - Robert Finley
89 Tigers Blood - Waxahatchee
89 All Born Screaming - St. Vincent
88 Only God Was Above Us - Vampire Weekend
88 What Now - Brittany Howard
88 Hey Panda - The High Llamas
88 Orquídeas - Kali Uchis
88 The Past Is Still Alive - Hurray for the Riff Raff
87 Filthy Underneath - Nadine Shah
87 i/o - Peter Gabriel
87 Blue Lips - ScHoolboy Q
All Current Music »